Metroid: Sacrifices
by SpindleLogic49
Summary: During her last mission as a GF marine under CC Adam Malkovich, fateful events force Samus to question her identity and rethink her cultural allegiances. A coming of age story written with a mind to atmosphere, character depth, and dramatic gravity.
1. Part 1: A Silent Warrior Speaks

Authors Notes:

Thank you for reading my first ever "published" short story :)

**Content Warning:** While I have attempted to write for a T rating in order to engage the widest audience possible, my artistic vision required me to take a liberal interpretation of T.

This story contains frequent reference to strong **expletive language**; as befits a bunch of freaked out space marines. I have abbreviated the objectionable words so as not to offend. My story also contains some gruesome, if not exactly gory, descriptions of **human remains** and episodes of intense **violence** against (non-anthropomorphic) Space Pirates. There are a few **brief descriptions of injuries** and violence towards humans, including the use of shoulder dislocation in self-defense, and (laughs to self) a "well intentioned" testicular assault in Part 2.

You will find no shortage of **character deaths** in this story and some of these have emotion laden death scenes but fatal injuries are never described in any detail. **If any of these things bother you please do not read further.** Otherwise please remember that **these artistic techniques**** are not the focus of the story** but are only there to help illustrate the environment and the personalities of the characters, enjoy!

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A Note to Hardcore Metroid fans: This story was inspired principally by the Metroid Prime games and by the Aliens movies that heavily inspired the whole Metroid franchise. It probably conflicts with the officially published media, which I only became fully aware of in the course of writing this story. My thesis for this FanFic: Samus Aran can be more than just a killing machine or a heroic stereotype. I wanted to explore what must have been the most dramatic period in our taciturn heroine's life: finding herself a double orphan in a strange culture she barely remembers, trying to find a voice of her own.

I welcome any and all reviews, but would particularly appreciate any stylistic pointers or comments. I am a science/maths student (as may be apparent from my tech descriptions) and am not used to writing in a literary style. This is kind of my way of dipping my toes in the waters of creative writing. If I get good feedback from this project I would really like to apply what I learn to my next big project: an original sci-fi saga based on themes of trans-humanism, maths/sci metaphysics, philosophy, and religious apocalypticism that I've been gestating for the better part of a decade. Who knows, it might even be professionally publishable (I can dream can't I). With great excitement I await your feedback.

Now the main story:

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Metroid: Sacrifices

At a far edge of the galaxy a GF assault shuttle cruises purposefully through the outer reaches of Federation space. Inside the main crew compartment a recon-assault squad of space marines play cards to pass the time; except for one. One of the players gets up and asks the loner if she wants them to deal her in. The pair of intense blue eyes behind the visor rise to meet his. His pulse wavers. His eyes water from the intensity of her gaze; a fevered sweat breaks across his brow. He cannot endure that cold, silent stare much longer: like staring into the frigid abyss of death. Unnerved, he shakes off the fatal hand that is tightening around his heart and returns to the circle of card players.

"What her problem?" the marine asks to no one in particular.

-

Commander Adam Malkovich coolly looked up from his hand of cards. "Who? Lady Aran? No problem." He replied.

The Commander was a career marine through and through, a grizzled veteran who was not about to take sh** from the grunts under him. His years of combat experience had taught him command presence. His tactical brilliance was innate. After twenty-six years in the service most of his buddies had retired or moved on to desk jobs while he was still taking on combat missions. Now pushing 50 it was a miracle he was still fighting with all his original limbs, let alone the better part of his youthful good looks.

Malkovich surveyed the pathetic band of misfits under his command: Nathaniel Frost, a decorated officer who had surrendered the privileges of rank to join Special Recon; and as cool under fire as his surname implied. "Doc" Robert Van Buren, former field medic now well studied in exobiology and non-human physiology as well. Jason "Jumper" Avirez, savant pilot and electrical engineer, also competent in information warfare. Brutus "Wrenchman" Chen, combat engineer, demolition expert, and Corps wrestling titlist. The troublesome "Frags" deChevalier, as uncouth and foulmouthed a marine as had ever existed but a born brawler and survivalist. And Rico Jagar, "The Kid," a multiple diploma carrying wiz-kid rookie from some backwater planet. Wants to be a certified GFMC field geologist some day but right now is just trying to pay off his college loans. In the ordinary infantry these men would have been exceptional; in Malkovich's Special Recon they were raw meat.

And then there was Samus Aran: the Lady… his Lady; undoubtedly the most phenomenal and mysterious marine in the entire Galactic Federation. Although Adam didn't like to shower her with too much praise there was no question that he was grooming her to be his successor. She had been entrusted to him straight out of academy and they now had three years of working history behind them. But to call this elegant woman in Marine Corps power armor his protégée would have been self flattery.

-

Malkovich took a deep breath and addressed his squad, "Gentlemen, Lady Aran is mute, she will be communicating with us exclusively through tactical sign language during this mission. Is that understood?!"

"Sir, yes sir!" shouted the troops.

Frags glared at her for a few moments then blurted out, "So what's wrong with her then?"  
"I told you nothing's wrong with her," retorted the commander, "and if you have a problem with that, marine, I'll bust you back to the infantry right now!"

Doc butted in, "Commander, he has a point. Speaking as squad medic, if she's mute because of a medical issue it might be important for me to know."

Adam sighed, "In that case I'd say it's probably a psychological factor."

-

Why had he brought a rookie team on this mission? Sure it looked to be a cakewalk and the new squad could use the practice but the veterans are so much less aggravating.

-

"To be honest, I don't know myself. She just appeared out of nowhere about four cycles ago, graduated Marine Academy in four months with all-time record scores in every category, then got handed over to me. No f***ing paper trail at all"

"Wow! Where in space could she have come from that there were no GF records?" The Kid piped in.

"Hard to say," intoned Frost, "but I hear some of the Recon vet's think she might be a survivor of the massacre on K-2L." The compartment was enveloped in silence for a moment. No human in the Galactic Federation would ever forget the horrific event that had started this war.

"God, that explains it!" exclaimed Wrenchman, "She would've been just a kid when it happened. I was in the second division planet side; all those burned, half eaten bodies baking in the sun as far as the eye can see. It was enough to make anyone…"

"She can still hear you, you know." Jumper interjected.

-

Adam sighed inwardly, "Look you half assed excuses for professionals, all you need to know is she's the very best—irrespective of her…peculiarities. If we run into trouble you'll just be glad the Lady's here to drag your sorry carcasses back home."

"You expecting trouble, Commander?" asked Doc. But before Adam could respond the intercom blared to life, "Commander Malkovich, we are approaching the target."

"Ok maggots look alive!" barked the Commander, "Remember your briefing: Command lost communications with the Astra Maru XIII three days ago. It's a small colonial mining ship: no deck plans registered in the GF databases, which is part of why they've called us in. Intel' points to some sort of emergency. Primary objective is to assure the safety of the crew. Second, secure the ship, render assistance and bring her back to port. Third, we try to determine what caused the anomaly. No excuses, no mistakes, the job gets done and we all come home. Got it?"

"Sir, yes Sir!"

The intercom again: "We've got visual contact. She looks intact. I see two, NO three boarding pods!"

"Space Pirates!" whispered Frost, "12 to 18 raiders by the sound of it."

"Filthy f***ing bugs!" added Frags.

"S.R. Commander, thrust pods on the boarding craft appear to be blown. Looks like they were determined to take her." Comm'ed in the pilot. "We'll dock at the starboard escape-pod bay: doubt they'll be prepared for that."

"Good work shuttle…. Alright pansies, time to earn you salaries. We breach and clear on my mark. Samus takes point. Any objections My Lady?" Samus flashed her C.O. the OK sign. "Good. Helmets on, safe-locks off gentlemen." Adam chided.

-

The assault shuttle swooped in shallow and fast for the ship's starboard bilges. The pilot counter-burned hard and glided in towards the end of the bay, where the mining ship had discarded the extra escape pods it wasn't legally required to carry. The shuttle latched onto the side of the ship with magnetic grapnels and deployed a hermetic gangway to one of the life boat ports. Behind this improvised airlock Commander Malkovich took his place third in formation after Samus and Frags. There was a sharp rap as the passage explosively pressurized from the other side, then the shuttle's doors slid back.

"Breach and clear! GO! GO! GO!"

Samus leapt into the mining ship like a cat and in a split second scanned the space for targets. The hallway was clear. Apparently unaffected by the odd angle that the shuttle had docked she charged for the door at the end of the hall, draining its weak energy shield with a pulse from the microlaser on her plasma rifle.

These empty passages were practically shooting galleries. She raced for the end of the corridor and flattened herself against the corner. As the rest of the squad rushed through the door the taciturn young marine signaled a stop—all clear. Adam caught up with her moments later, trying to hide the fact he was slightly winded.

"Damnit Samus you need to stay in formation! Not everyone can run-and-gun like you can, Lady…. (pant!) Shuttle, this is Malkovich, we have secured the insertion point. Please advise have you been able to establish a data uplink with the ship?"

"Wait a moment… yes! We've got data feed. The stream is pretty corrupted… but… There! Commander, we've locked on to the crew's biotags…. all negative life signs." A murmur of disappointment rippled through the squad.

"Where is the nearest signature?"

"About 15 degrees to the right and 60 meters distant from your current position. Inclination up about 5 degrees." The shuttle reported back.

"Squad move out," barked Adam, "staggered formation!"

-

Samus shouldered her plasma rifle, a fearsome micro-rocket equipped elite forces special, and broke cover. Her bright eyes glowed with same cold fire that had so unsettled Frags on the shuttle as she marched for the curving ramp at the end of the hallway, shadowed by the rest of her squad. The ship was rocked by a small explosion and the lights sparked and flickered but the steely eyed marines were un-phased. The ship shook again and the lights went out, casting the passage ways into complete darkness except for the eerie glow of the emergency foot lights. They blew past a blocked right fork with barely a glance. Doc stumbled over some fallen debris as they finally entered a low chamber still decorated with a few intact holo-refractive displays—5 meters to go.

Samus gave the signal to fan out and search the area. Immediately the room was lit up with crisscrossing spindles of their red laser scopes. Samus hugged the left wall and Adam the right while Frags took the center line. Had they not been rebreathing pressurized air they would have smelled the rank fumes of decay.

One of the displays sparked, then shattered with a flash of light, illuminating broken ceiling panels, smashed cargo boxes, and a disturbingly proportioned mass slumped against the far wall. Frags tentatively bent forward to approach the motionless figure.

Another flash of sparks glinted off a silvery carapace uncoiling behind the corpse's ear.

-

Frags recoiled in terror as a gore stained creature launched itself at his face, metallic fangs spread wide! Adam deftly brought his rifle to his ear and fired a single shot. His aim was dead on but his round was second to reach the target. Samus' bolt streaked across the room, whizzing mere inches from Frags' face, and splattered the fanged terror against the wall a fraction of a second before Adam's exploded against the opposite wall. Frags stumbled backwards and shredded the corpse with a withering barrage of fire.

"Hold your fire!" Adam shouted. He lit up a torch and shone it on the frantic marine. Then he turned it on Samus. "God Damn it Aran, _line of fire_!" Samus tuned her back to him and pouted: a woman scorned. In the adrenaline of the moment Adam felt a surprising impulse to slap her across the face. Luckily another marine decided to bait his wrath.

"Holy Sh**! That was a wild shot!" whistled Jumper.

Adam rounded on him, "I don't recall asking for an assessment of the Lady's marksmanship Marine! Try to undermine my authority again and I'll have you court marshaled. And you:" he shouted at Frags, "pull yourself together! S.R. troopers don't sh** themselves just because a little f***ing bug tried to f***ing bite them!"

"Oh come on Chief even you have to admit that was an amaz…" But the Kid gagged mid sentence as Doc shone his torch on the copse reclining against the wall.

Apart from the pulverizing effects of Frags' plasma blasts it looked like someone had attacked every inch of exposed flesh with a melon baller. Inside the hundreds of gaping holes something had laid hundreds of fleshy, putrid eggs.

-

"Parasites!" Doc spat.

"You three," Adam pointed to The Kid, Frost, and Samus, "guard the entrances. Let's take a moment to collect ourselves and figure out what's going on in here. Jumper, try to get the lights back on. Doc, what's your assessment of him?" he motioned at the dead crewman.

"There's so much damage it's hard to say whether it was a parasite that actually got him. Practically every ship in the quadrant has them of course but I've never heard of an infestation this aggressive."

"How long do we have until those things hatch?"

"Not long, but it will be several days before they're big enough to bother us."

Jumper pressed a keypad and the lights popped back on. Doc turned the ghastly body over and tried his best to cover up the face.

Adam radioed their transport, "Shuttle, we have located the crew member in the inventory station, looks like an engineer. Deceased. Tell Command to send another shuttle with hardened body bags and fumigation equipment."

"We copy Squad."

-

Frags had gotten up and was pacing angrily around the inventory control room. Adam sidled up to Frost and Samus.

"How's the road ahead look?"

"Not good." Frost zapped the door open, "Looks like a structural bulkhead collapsed into the passageway." He wedged his power armor against the giant slab of metal and shook it violently. "And it feels like it's jammed against something. It's going to be hard to shift."

"Wrenchman take The Kid with you back to the shuttle and bring up the plasma cutters and electrostatic jacks."

Samus held up a fist: the signal to halt. Her eyes closed in concentration. Her GF power armor began to glow bright orange, then in a flash of light it dissolved away and was subsumed by a totally alien armorsuit. An electric hum shook the room as the new suit sprang to life, a shining construct of metallic amber and red-gold plates with fluorescent green accents and large shoulder pauldrons. Her entire right forearm was encased in some sort of exotic energy weapon.

The suit glowed again and collapsed into a sphere barely larger than a beach ball. The ball rolled towards the bulkhead and in a blinding burst of heat somehow squeezed through a hole about half its diameter. There was a loud clang and Samus reappeared, lifting the enormous slab of metal with one hand and wedging it into the ceiling.

A few of the marines, even Adam, gaped in astonishment and The Kid stuttered, "That… that suit! That's Chozo power armor isn't it."

To everyone's surprise Samus answered back, although her voice was inert and synthetic, "_Yes, the Chozo found me abandoned in the wilderness long ago. They raised me as one of their own. This armor was their legacy bestowed on me._"

"My Lady, you can speak now?"

"_The suit interprets my words and renders them in your language_."

The Kid appeared overcome with enthusiasm, "Wow! So how did you do that thing you did morphing into a ball? And what's that thing on your arm?... Miss Aran?"

-

The amber clad warrior turned her back to him and signed for the squad to form up. "_Orders Commander_?"

Malkovich was shocked out of his wonderment. "Right! My datalink shows the next biotag is just a few decameters down this hallway. We proceed with clearing the ship and accounting for the crew. Carry on in staggered formation. Any objections Lady?"

Samus flashed him the OK sign and wordlessly rushed down the hallway she had just opened. As they passed into darkness again Adam heard a chorus of primal screams issuing from the space ahead of them. Samus fired three resounding shots that lit up the narrow hallway with orange fire. The Lady pressed on unphased, rushing the marines past three glowing blast marks ringed with green slime and parasite fragments. They rounded a corner and were met by the blue glow of two doors illuminating a small foyer. Malkovich wordlessly signaled for Samus, Jumper and Frags to follow him through the first door on the right while the rest guarded the one at the end.

Adam drained the door and the four of them rushed into a partially illuminated holographic map chamber. They quickly searched the small room for threats.

"Clear," Adam announced, "Jumper start uploading these schematics to our netlink."

As Jumper was working Samus joined him behind the console. A soft green, holo-like projection suddenly emanated from her visor and began scanning over the holograms and data screens.

"_I have now uploaded the map data to my armor's neural net. Engineering and all sections aft of the main hold are depressurized. Equipment bays and crews quarters are sealed by internal damage._"

Adam smiled in amazement. "That's an impressive trick. Thank you Lady! Jumper keep working on that uplink."

-

Frags tapped him on the shoulder, "Sir, permission to speak privately concerning special operative Aran."

Adam felt a tinge of annoyance, "You have a closed line, speak if you will."

The marine paranoidly ushered him to the far corner of the chamber and snarled, "Sir that b*tch almost blew my f***ing head off back there! And now she's traded her GF armor for some f***ing bird man power suit and is hacking this sh** hole faster than f***ing Jumper can. You still f***ing think we can trust her?"

Anger surged through Adam's brain. "Listen up Soldier!" he snapped, "That girl is the best damn killing machine in the entire f***ing Federation. I've been putting my life in her hands for the last three years. If she wanted us dead she should have done it long ago. So get over yourself; start praying she doesn't have to save your ass again."

"You may be willing to entrust yours to some half spacer freak, Malkovich, but I look after my own ass; and I want it as far from that b*tch as possible."

"Fine, from now on you stay with The Kid in the back!" Adam shouted at him. He felt the rage boiling up in him again, "Your tenure in S.R. is over Frags! As soon as we get back to Command I'm sending you straight to court marshal: mutiny is a hanging offense out here Frags! You Hear Me Soldier? Your Ass Is Mine!"

The marine rounded on him and Adam put his hand on his bayonet, but his assailant was stopped dead by Samus' cold stare. The brutish leatherneck quaked in his boots and staggered out the door.

"The uplink is finished" Jumper offered timidly.

-

Malkovich took a few deep breaths to calm and focus himself then he marched out of the map room with Samus and Jumper in tow. He gazed imperiously over his fraying squad.

"Gentlemen, we have acquired a map of the ship, so we know the next crewmember is in this next room: astro-geology. There's going to be a little switch up in the entry order from here on out: I'll be taking second from Frags and Frost will take over third position from me. We've determined that much of the ship is blocked off or uninhabitable, so I think things may get a little more dicey in these next couple of rooms. But at least we won't have to deal with a drawn out chase 'round the ship that might turn into a battle of attrition. If there's a fight to be had let's fight hard and smart: kill those Pirate bastards and get the f*** home. Right?"

The troops offered up a rather mixed "Sir, yes Sir!"

"My Lady, I leave our next entry in your capable command."

* * *

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading part 1 of this 4 part short story.

As of now I have finished writing through Part 3, which concludes the mining ship horror story arc, and plan to upload these chapters at two week intervals over the next month.

So…

Next: Part 2

In which the battle with the Space Pirates begins and everything goes to hell for Adam and his poor rookies.


	2. Part 2: A Plague and Madness and Vermin

Samus Aran signed for the squad to secure the next room in a pincer movement reassembling against the far wall, then she signaled to move out. Adam drained the shield on the door and the marines burst into the room. They immediately spotted the crewman slumped over a control panel. He was practically the only thing visible in the room, lit from below by the display. The rest of the room was dark and an unseen fire was filling the chamber with smoke.

The squad completed the sweep and assembled where Samus indicated against a big metal gangway walled in with holo-refractive panels. The silent warrior signaled for the rest of the squad to spread out and take covering positions while Doc to retrieved the crewman's body.

"God! Something's been chewing on him!" moaned Frost as he glanced at the remains. Indeed, the corpse had been eviscerated and a large section of the rib cage had been mutilated.

Samus scanned over the bite marks with her alien visor ray, then started moving back towards the door, sweeping the gloom with the ghostly beam. Frags, who had taken cover against the gangway, as far from her as possible, rose to glare at his tormentor. Had he exercised more reserve he might have seen the creeping terror stalking towards him. Like a giant predatory insect it approached its prey through the haze, undetectable to any save one. Too engorged to attack with speed and too delirious to use its other armaments or realize the futility of its mission, it had reverted to a beast of primal instincts: now within striking distance of Frags' vulnerable back…

-

"These mandible gashes are way too big to have come from parasites." Doc pondered aloud, "The only creature that could have caused this is…"

-

The marauder launched itself over the railing, straight for the back of Frags' head!

"Look out!" The Kid yelled too late. But someone had already sprung into action. Samus whipped her arm cannon around and fired a single shot directly into Frags' groin. The unfortunate marine jackknifed to the floor gasping in agony, the razor jaws of his predator missing his helmet by just inches! The attacking Space Pirate recoiled back over the rail and behind a sensor panel, safe from the spray of fire The Kid and Doc unleashed at it. As Adam began to yell "Man down! Fire on that gangway!" the creature lunged out again, intent on grabbing its prize.

The amber clad warrior was ready for it. Her arm cannon now clutched a roiling ball of energy the size of a small melon. With a flick of her forearm she launched the projectile at her foe, straight at the gap between its oversized recurved mandibles: an instant lobotomy. The dead Pirate bounced back over the rail and off the far wall where her homing micro-missile sent it ricocheting up the gangway.

-

"AARGMyGod!" Frags was screaming, his voice a whole octave higher, "T-That-M***erF***ing-B*tch shot my f***ing nuts off!" but Samus didn't seem to even notice his distress. The consummate huntress stepped heedlessly over her writhing companion to examine her kill, stooping only briefly to slide Frags' rifle out of his reach.

Adam and Doc rushed to Frags' aid and struggled to wrench his hands off his groin.

"Holy-sh**!" exclaimed Doc, "There isn't even a scorch mark! His suit doesn't register any injuries!"

"She must have tuned her shot to his armor's anti-resonant frequency!" Adam speculated, "I've only seen a few super advanced beam prototypes that can do that!"

"That's F***ing B*llsh**!" exclaimed Frags between other profanities, "I can feel it: She killed them!"

"Hey Wrenchman," laughed Jumper, "Do you think murdering a man's family jewels is a court marshallable offense?"

"Shut it you two!" shouted Adam, "Just guard the door!"

-

Samus reappeared dragging the brained Space Pirate down the gangway and dropped it next to Adam. "_By the shape of the mandibles, a raider from the Spiral Nebula hive._" she proclaimed with all the ennui of a grocer examining produce from a wholesaler, "_See how the egg sack is engorged? It was pregnant._"

"Pregnant!?" Adam prised himself from Frags' bruised masculinity to see this even more remarkable phenomenon.

"You're right! Do you think that could explain its erratic behavior, Lady? It didn't even try to fire its galvanic accelerator."

"_It is possible_."

Samus placed the muzzle of her arm cannon against the Space Pirate's heart and, charging another ball of energy, drew it up and over the body. The dead creature seized and convulsed violently as a blob of bright orange light burst from its chest and was absorbed into the arm cannon. Standing behind them The Kid began to gag and choke violent.

"Oh God! He's going to puke!" shouted Frost, and his prediction proved entirely correct.

"(Blech!) Oh F***!" The Kid moaned, "Why do they all have to look like bugs? I hate bugs!"

Jumper burst into laughter again, "Then you're in the wrong profession kid! Hee Hee! Am I right?!"

-

The young marine was not listening, he was staggering around clawing at his vomit stained helmet like a mad man. "Oh God get me off this ship! I can't take it any more, get me out!"

Frags crawled upright and shoved Doc off him. He grabbed his gun off the floor and began scrambling for the exit, echoing The Kid's same call.

Jumper collapsed on the floor in uncontrollable fits of giggles.

The stress of the situation, which had recede in the need to help a fallen comrade, dawned back on Adam like a tidal wave.

"F***!!!" He shouted. The discharge of his rifle into the ceiling resounded through the chamber. His team was falling to pieces right before his eyes! "Samus! Frost! Don't just stand there, get them under control!

"And you!" He yanked Jumper off the floor and slammed him hard into the wall. "You are a soldier in my command! You don't even smile unless I order you to!"

The other marine just laughed maniacally and took a swing at him. Adam threw him into an arm lock and felt the pop of the shoulder dislocating.

With a scream of pain Jumper seemed to regain his senses and tapped his shoulder in submission.

-

Suddenly there was a loud bang that seemed to reverberate throughout the ship. The one illuminated console exploded like a firework and the touchpad burst into open flames.

Samus: "_I detect weapons fire two doors down in the starboard power nexus_."

"The Pirates! Sh**!" Adam cursed. They're close: no time to waste. "Doc, get these three back to the shuttle. The rest of you form up! We need to secure this ship now!——Shuttle! We have contact with the Pirates in astro-geology! Prepare to receive casualties. I'm sending three back with The Doc now."

"Rodger, S.R. Commander."

"I'm sorry Sir!" winced Jumper, "But I'm okay now; I can still fight. I'll be on your six as soon as Doc fixes my arm."

The C.O. nodded over his shoulder to him. "Now, Lady!" he shouted.

-

Samus motioned for Adam to stay several paces behind her, but it was hardly necessary. With a flash of hot exhaust from two jet nozzles on her back she charged up the gangway like a hurricane. Before Adam could even finish his first stride she blasted the door and it slid open. On the verge of the portal the lady in amber rolled through the door in her morph ball form so that she seemed to materialize like a vengeful spirit on the far threshold. Then just as quickly she lunged out of sight again to take the left flank. With every ounce of his strength in an all out sprint Adam followed her through the door a second later, but the room was empty.

Adam steeled himself, knowing the main confrontation would come in the next room. Samus had already turned and was rushing at the door along the diagonal. He rushed to join her.

A single shot and the door flew open. Samus disappeared through the maw and Adam followed, barely avoiding a bright red GAC bolt that passed just inches above his left knee.

Through the door and he found himself staring at two savage looking Space Pirates directly across from him. A third was on his right at a trashed computer terminal with Samus's missile already roaring towards it.

He squeezed the secondary trigger and his own micro-missile exploded against the wall behind the two raiders, spraying them with shrapnel!

He ducked left, lined up on his target and clamped down on the trigger.

The two shocked Pirates scrambled behind the cover of a large storage crate even as he and Frost ravaged them with plasma burns.

Finished with her target, Samus rounded on the two behind the crate. A pulse of energy like a stroke of lightning passed between her left hand and her arm cannon and launched a stream of pure white electrical energy at the crate. The stream tensed and with a flick of her arm she slammed the huge crate across the wall, leaving only two dull green smears of blood to evidence the demise of the enemy combatants!

-

The excitement over, Adam panted to catch his breath. He looked instinctively for the door to the next room; it was blocked by the wreckage of the crate and part of the ceiling. Samus had already begun her routine of scanning everything in the room even as Wrenchman and finally Jumper joined them.

"You three," Adam ordered between breaths, "start clearing that rubble. (pant!) Samus… as you were." (Maybe he was getting too old for this!)

"_This is strange,_" Samus' impassive voice hummed as she examined the left wall, "_There are four Space Pirates in this room but we only killed three. This one was executed by the others._"

"My Lady," Adam sighed, the stress of their predicament was rising in him again, "I think we have bigger concerns than…. Wait I see now! I've seen Pirate executions before: they always bayonet the victims to save ammo. But that one was shot repeatedly in the back."

"_What is more, their imprecise fire blew out this wall of fuses, which they seemed to be in the process of repairing_."

"I've never known them to be so careless! But what does it mean?"

"_Correlated to the data from our own squad, it suggests the presence of an additional factor that has yet to be identified_."

The three laborers turned around and the men all exchanged mystified looks.

In an instant Samus ran her scanning beam over each of them. "_Fascinating. All four of you are over expressing key neurotransmitters in your central nervous systems, the levels are high enough to have triggered the disorientation and psychotic episodes we have observed_."

"What! you mean like stim' drugs?!" Wrenchman cried, "That's impossible! We're breathing canned air!"

"_My people had ways to affect neurochemistry using only radiant energy fields. But I am not equipped to detect if such a technology is at work_."

"Are you affected My Lady?" asked Adam.

"_My nervous system remains within normal parameters_."

"Commander!" jittered Wrenchman nervously, "we've got to warn the others back at the shuttle! Please Sir; tell them we've got to abort!"

-

"You're right!" (about the shuttle anyway) Adam exclaimed. He switched on his communicator, "Shuttle, do you read?"

"Commander?! Thank God you called! We have a serious situation here! There are bugs crawling all over the shuttle! They're trying to break through the front view pane!"

"Shuttle, stay calm! Have Doc and the others arrived back yet?" Adam asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I think here they come now."

A horrifying thought burst into Adams mind. "Shuttle! Whatever you do don't let them…"

"Oh My God! They're everywhere!!!" The Kid's voice shrieked. Over the microphone Adam heard the boom of a rifle discharge and a brief scuffle. Then there was another concussion of weapons fire, the crash of tempered glass exploding, and the whoosh of the atmosphere depressurizing into space. The transmission ended as their cacophony of horrific screams faded away into the silence of the vacuum.

-

Adam stood stunned for a second, paralyzed by the tragedy he had just overheard. Then he turned to what remained of his squad.

"Gentlemen, My Lady..." he choked, "I'm afraid… the shuttle is no longer an option."

The room burst into a furor, everyone shouting, questioning, blaming, and cursing fate intermittently.

Lady Aran's synthetic voice rose above the turmoil. "_Marines! Control Yourselves! In your current condition it is absolutely imperative that you remain calm. The psychosis has already cost half your comrades their lives._"

"Of course, you're right My Lady." Adam admitted, "All of you, I want any suggestions you have for how we can extricate ourselves from this quagmire!"

"We should make for the escape pods!" offered Wrenchman.

"That's no good!" Frost interceded, "The automated distress beacons would attract every Pirate vessel within a parsec!"

"I can disable the beacons!" Jumper added.

"That wouldn't work either." Adam objected, "It sounds like those bays are now swarming with parasites. We would never be able to hold them off long enough for you to hotwire two escape pods! No, I think there is nothing for it but to retake the ship and do whatever it takes to get it back on a trajectory to GF space: get the hell away from whatever is causing all this b*llsh**!

"I agree with you, Chief." affirmed Frost.

"I know where you two stand." Adam said to Wrenchman and Jumper, "My Lady, it is up to you."

Samus paused deliberately, "_You are the ranking officer of this mission, and I will abide by your orders.... I also concur that your course of action offers the highest probability of individual survival_."

"Thank you, My Lady. Now would you four please clear that doorway while I work out the details of this plan."

-

As the others set to shifting the pile of ruble, Adam sat down to think. Luckily the brain scrambling phenomenon that was so tormented them seemed to have also supercharged his faculties and he soon had a detailed plan in mind. When Wrenchman tossed aside the last panel of vitreous steel he rose again.

"Thank you all, now here's the plan. This next room is an intersection that leads to the main cargo hold and to the bridge via another hallway. Wrenchman, are you still carrying your demo explosives and smart proximity fuses?"

"Sure."

"Good, then I want you to rig this door, and the path to the bridge to implode if anything but us tries to go through. We'll use the cargo hold to cross over to the port side of the ship. Then we'll try to drive the Pirates through the bridge into our trap. It will be basic but effective. And if the resistance is too heavy," he nodded to Jumper and Wrenchman, "we'll be ideally placed to retreat and take our chances with the port side escape pod bay."

"I like it, Chief" Jumper smiled and Wrenchman nodded too.

"I'm glad, then form up!"

-

At Adam's command the team burst through the door and immediate set to work laying charges and laser tripwires. The cramped space was dark, for it seemed that the emergency lights had malfunctioned in this sector of the ship. However the unnatural mania that afflicted them, deprived of other outlets, seemed to manifest itself as a kind of battle euphoria and even with just torchlight the task was soon finished. Without delay they proceeded through the leftmost door and found themselves on a catwalk above the vast cargo hold.

The enormous chamber was as dark as the room they had just come from except for a few flickering emergency lights in the distance. By this meager light they could see the floor below was piled high with raw mineral ore.

"Quietly now." Adam whispered, as much out of primordial reverence for the mausoleum like space as for fear of discovery.

-

About halfway across the catwalk there was a sound of rocks settling and the marines froze. For what seemed like ages they stood stock still, peering into the gloom for the source of the disturbance. After some moments with no further noise, Adam decided, perhaps against his better judgment, to raise his torch and peer down into the piles. The ghostly light glinted off a great many shiny surfaces that were definitely not rocks. Just as horrifying recognition dawned on him, a cacophony of wretched screams rose up from the patch he had just illuminated.

"Oh Sh**! Run!!!"

In seconds the pile of rocks transformed into a sea of writhing parasites racing towards them like a tsunami! All five stalwart soldiers turned and began firing into the mass of parasites even as they scrambled for the far door. Adam fired a missile that detonated in a profusion of green goo. Then Wrenchman lobbed a grenade into the growing mass of silver at the base of the catwalk oblivious to Adam's tardy cry of warning. The explosion rocked the narrow pathway and Jumper, who was closest, was flung over the edge, grasping at the railing. Wrenchman turned in horror and ran to the aid of his friend, but too late, the unfortunate soldier's hand slipped and he disappeared into the rising tide of ravenous life. Wrenchman uttered a cry of anguish and turned again to rejoin his comrades, but the wave had already crested the catwalk and he too was dragged down into oblivion.

"F***!!!"

Samus, Adam, and Frost ran through the far doorway and retreated down the short hall, but the river of silvery demons continued to pursue them. No matter how many rows they mowed down another would overflow the devastation and rejoin the pursuit!

"It's no good, Commander!" shouted Frost, "Someone has to draw them away." He blasted a door to their right and shoved them into a small storage closet. His frightened and desperate face looked pleadingly towards them. "It's been an honor serving with you!" he saluted.

-

The door hissed shut and that was the last they ever saw of him.

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Author's Note:

Wow, so that's the end of those guys! Thank you again for reading part 2 out of 4 of Metroid: Sacrifices.

I have finished writing through Part 3, which concludes the mining ship horror story arc, and plan to upload all these chapters at two week intervals over the next month.

so

Next: Part 3

In which Adam and Samus share stories from their pasts before attempting the final assault, and the secrets of mission's fate are revealed!


	3. Part 3: A Worthy Exchange

Author's Note:

Wow, here we are at Part 3 already, where I hope to finally make good on my promises of complex character development and deep emotional drama.

I just want to give a shout out to Riverwing for giving me my first review back on Part 1. I really do enjoy feedback and if you've read this far I'm guessing you liked something about this story that's worth sharing. There's only one (really short) chapter left after this one so if you want to express yourselves now is the time to do it.

So here you go, Part 3:

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* * *

The refuge in which Adam and Samus found themselves was tiny, barely 2 meters by 3 and they had to share it with metal crates and bundles of wire. The only illumination came from the glow of their respective armor suits: his blue and hers green. Samus huddled down in one corner against the bales of medium gage electrical wires. The suit glowed again and vanished into her body, revealing Adam's old friend in her familiar blue GFMC jumpsuit, personalized in neon violet with foreign hieroglyphs and the S.R. insignias. Her otherworldly face, framed by cascading strands of golden blond hair, looked terribly pale in the strange light of his armor. Her soft breath rose like plumes of steam in the frigid air of their space born coffin.

"My Lady, if you are cold you should put your suit back on!"

To his surprise she laughed softly and muttered under her breath. Her synthetic voice issued from a solitary patch of gold on her left forearm. "_You humans are much too sensitive. When the Chozo found me they chimerized me with their own cells so that I could survive in the harsh environments of their worlds. I am quite comfortable, thank you_."

Adam sat silent for a moment digesting this unusual claim, and finally nodded in acknowledgement.

-

What she said next surprised him even more: "_We are going to die here aren't we?_"

-

This time, he distinctly heard whispered from her lips the ancient language that until now she had spoken only in absolute private. Her voice was like the chanting of song birds, the cooing of doves and the crying of eagles: sounds no merely human voice could ever reproduce. Though he did not understand the language he detected no hint of regret or anger in her ethereal whisperings, only the quiet, reverent acceptance of a warrior whose life has come full circle….

He had to physically shake himself to break free of her spell. "No. No, My Lady! We're going to get through this! You'll see!" He sat himself down next to her. "You're relatively new to this game, but I've been in many worse scrapes than this and come out all right."

She looked ruefully at him.

-

"Let me tell you a little story, Samus, something I've never told anyone in Special Recon before.

"My very first action was a recon in force on Sulpherion-3. The natives were in the process of democratizing and the local warlords were fighting tooth and nail to stop it. Anyway, one of these warlords got so desperate that he hired a bunch of Space Pirate mercenaries to reconquer his territory for him. The local security forces asked the Federation to step in and neutralize them. I was a green recruit in a green battalion, completely unprepared for any kind surface-side guerilla warfare. Our platoon was ordered to scout a series of canyons on the border of the warlord's territory. It was a perfect setting for an ambush and the Bugs took full advantage.

We were about halfway through the patrol when they jumped on us. They killed several of the senior offices and cut our line right at the middle so they could pick us off one by one however seemed most entertaining to them. Half our guys were running scared and the other half were praying that the mega-planet would fall out of the sky and bury us so the Pirates wouldn't be able to pry us from our holes.

"Luckily not 300 meters away there was a lone squad from Delta Base—real veteran professionals—doing advisorial recon for the security forces. They saw the whole thing and came charging down the canyon to rescue us. I will never forget the sight of those eight guys charging through energy grenades and GAC bolts like they were butterflies and tulips, never breaking cover fire for an instant. They tore through that gaggle of Space Pirates like a blowtorch against butter.

"And that's when I learned that a few disciplined men with impeccable tactics can achieve what four times as many would find impossible. The magnitude of what we had witnessed was lost on my comrades, but not on me. I postulated that a military organization wins wars not by the abilities of its rank and file but by the strength of its special forces, and at that moment Special Recon was born in my mind. Over the years I think I've proved my thesis many times over; but in all that time I've never met a single warrior to match a tenth of what you are!

I knew it from the moment I saw you in your first weeks at academy. Why do you think I took a special leave to give you personal instruction? Pulled you out of academy 12 months early? Overrode every ascension protocol to secure you a place in my command? You are the one force in the entire universe that I believe can get the Federation back on track! And after what I've seen you do just now in that armor of yours I can imagine no limit to what you might accomplish!"

-

"_You sound just like the Chozo!_" Samus snarled at him, her face livid. "_Always going on about what I will do, what I will become! Never asking me if I ever wanted any part of it!_"

She drew several quick, ragged breath before continuing, her voice suddenly resentful and forlorn. "_I suppose it made sense coming from their beaks, what with their fabled all seeing Vision to inform them; they who lived beyond time itself...._

"_But you?!_" she shrieked, "_I am only a mortal like you! I die when my body is broken just as you do! Why do you force this messianic guise upon me that is so foreign to my true self?_

"_All I've ever wanted is peace; to know exactly who I am for one single moment_…"

Adam was taken aback by his friend's sudden change in personality but he had to steel his heart against her. "Samus… Someday you will have your peace, but it is something that you will have to forge yourself. 'There is no peace but what we make.' And the first step to that goal is getting off this ship. All I know is the facts. Of the four Pirates we've destroyed during this mission every kill belongs to you. Your Chozo weapons are hundreds of cycles more advanced than our most sophisticated prototypes. And even before you started using these new weapons you were S.R.'s top grunt. So all I want to know is should I tag along when you storm out to retake this ship or would I just get in the way?"

-

Samus sighed in exasperation, "_I think in your ignorance of its design you overestimate my suit's capabilities. Chozo power armor is designed to adapt to changing circumstances by assimilating unique technologies and even distilling the natural energies of an environment to gain new abilities. Unfortunately, these upgrades usually become unstable upon leaving their sphere of origin. The techniques you've seen me demonstrate are the few I've retained from what I was able to eke out back at Command. But this desolate ship has no ambient energy or advanced technologies for me to exploit. In its current condition my armor is really not much more capable than that of any other GF marine_."

"Well that's okay then, because all we really need to get out of here are two exemplary GF marines with a plan, a bit of ammo and a whole lot of guts!" Her steely blue eyes stared inquisitively at him.

"I've been watching the crew's biotags during our little chat. Even though they register no life signs a couple of them have been moving around. They're congregating on the bridge. Knowing the Big Bugs' appetite for humans I'd say that's where our Pirate friends are holed up. That's their first mistake. The bridge is one of the few places on an industrial vessel where you would want an against-the-odds firefight: plenty of room to maneuver and plenty of cover. Better yet with this radiological issue you've discovered they'll all be confused and panicky, hell half of 'em may be dead already. All we need to do is chase them through the starboard hallway and it's finished."

"_It remains a well conceived plan, but the probability of success is now less than 30%_."

"That's why I never bother with probabilities; they tend to underestimate real people."

-

For a long time they stared at each other in silence.

-

She really was beautiful, this woman whose life had become so entangled with his: tall, stately, and perfectly athletic, her hands simultaneously infinitely delicate and irresistibly strong. Her eyes shone like stars even in the darkest night; her inscrutable visage was the mortal embodiment of nobility and grace.

If ever he could take another woman into his heart, resurrect his vows of eternal love, it could only be with her.

But No! These feelings were just the perverse fantasies of his poisoned brain! She was too young—yes—too young and too perfect for an old man like him. Hell! She was practically like a daughter to him—a miraculous replacement for that other child, lost so long ago.

True, it was only right that he should love her; but never in _that_ way! He forced the unspeakable thought out of his mind and sought calm his brain with silent meditation.

-

"_I want to tell you a story too_." Samus whispered, "_Like yours, its something I have never told anyone before._

"_About four cycles ago Grandfather took me away from our home to visit the planet of his hatching. When I asked him why he told me he wanted to 'Pass On' upon the same breeze that was his first breath. He wanted me to be at his side. At the time I did not understand what he meant._

"_When we arrived we found the colony under attack. The metroids had ravaged the outer settlements and were amassing to attack the temple citadel_."

"Metroids?" Adam interrupted, "I have never heard of that race."

"_They are not space-faring sentients._" She replied, "_The metroids were one in a family of artificial life forms we Chozo created to help us manipulate natural energies. Such constructs are the basis for many Chozo technologies—even my power armor. Metroids were designed to assist us in warfare and in our environmental stewardship; they had the ability extract or amplify the life-force of any living organism, even the point of death. I don't know if it was a mutation, or a flaw in design, of if we simply lost the will to continue controlling them but one day they began hunting us. Eventually they turned to wiping out entire colonies, draining every last sentient being and then turning on each other if they had no other designated prey. That day I barely escaped them alive...._

"_But before the attack could begin Grandfather led me to the great hatchery: it was empty except for three elders who came to meet us. They ushered us to the center and encircled us, reciting a strange requiem I had never heard before. I was frightened. Grandfather told me to put on my armor and I did so. He offered me a few words of reassurance—things I cannot share even with you. Then before I could do anything he thrust his talons into his heart and collapsed down on the ground!_"

Her eyes clouded with tears as the memory washed over her and her chest convulsed with small sobs.

"_I… do not know what happened next, except that his body vanished like vapors in the wind and the pool of his blood rose up and rushed into my armor. Then the other Chozo dragged my tearful body out of the chamber. As we went I saw other Chozo battling the metroids and I begged to go and join them, but the elders' grip did not relent. Finally we reached a small spacecraft and they thrust me into it just as the metroids were breaking through. As the engines warmed up one of the elders spoke to me. He said, 'You must leave this place, Hatchling, for the power of the Chozo is at its end. It is time you were returned to your own people. You must never try to seek us out again.' Then they cast off their armor and were consumed by the metroids_."

-

Her eyes brimmed with tears, but she swallowed her grief and pressed on. "_You see, all things must reach their proper end, Adam Malkovich. And when we find that end it is better to embrace it peacefully than to struggle eternally against it. That is the secret wisdom of the Chozo…_"

Her watery blue eyes stared at him expectantly.

Adam slowly shook his head, "I am sorry My Lady, but I do not believe it."

After a pause he added, "I have one more secret to share, Lady. As you know I am privy to many of the Federation's most classified secrets.

"I have seen the spacecraft in which you arrived, and I saw something on it you may not have recognized. The hatch bore a curious inscription written in Human Standard: '_Where there is no Certainty, at least there is Hope._'

"We humans can never know when our ends will arrive but that uncertainty gives us the courage to fight on even against impossible odds. We may be weak in mind and body but we can still aspire to greatness so that even the mightiest races must admire our audacity. Your people proved this fact when they rescued you from the destruction of our colony on K-2L and chose you to defend the peace and justice in their stead. But perhaps there is still some Chozo wisdom that remains secret even from you…"

-

Her startled eyes locked with his and he perceived a new emotion glimmering in those impenetrable orbits: it was something akin to awe, like she was seeing him for the very first time. In all their time together that he never before acknowledged her origins, and Adam suddenly wished he had done it sooner. In her subtle way, she had always expressed a sense of gratitude and camaraderie towards him but this was the first time that her eyes had ever betrayed real, genuine respect. He knew his upstart prodigy had finally recognized the value of her aging mentor.

The old commander knew better than to let this victory go to waste. "Now put on your armor!" He barked "We're saving this ship!"

-

Samus did as he requested and he immediately noticed an enormous shift in her personality. In seconds her tears were dried and she looked calmly around the storage closet. "_My sensors show the corridor beyond this door is emptied_." she said, "_We are free to move out. I will take point._

"_When the time comes to fight, if you can provide suppressive fire I will move in and root the enemy from their hiding places—just like old times. Any objections, Commander?_"

"No, Lady."

-

Outside, the hallway had been swept clean except for a thin film of green goo splattered here-there-and-everywhere. There was no other evidence of their encounter with the parasites. Samus and Adam moved cautiously towards the door that would lead them to the bridge and Adam silently drained it with his microlaser. As they tiptoed towards the last lock that stood between them and their enemies Samus whispered to him, "_I know I said that my suit isn't much stronger than normal power armor, but even un-upgraded it still has some weak defensive shielding. Whatever happens stay behind me, Commander. I don't want you to die while my shield still has enough energy for both of us_."

"I'll keep that in mind" He whispered back. Despite himself, his mouth was dry with anticipation. They were facing the final portal; sounds of scuffling could be heard from within. "Let's do it on three. One. Two. Three!"

In what seemed like slow motion they blasted the door together and stepped into the dazzling starlight. At least fifty, no Sixty, astounded Space Pirates infants and half a dozen fully armed adults exchanged fiery looks with them.

"OH, SH**!!!" Adam mouthed wordlessly as he clamped down on his trigger and dove for a nearby console. The world flooded back in motion as the shrieking nymphs raced down upon them. He grabbed his bayonet and, splitting a nearby nymph from hip to shoulder, affixed the harmonic-blade to his rifle. Swinging, jabbing and firing in every direction he dodged towards the railing overlooking the lower control floor and fired his last two missiles into the glass view panes overlooking the bow of the ship. The panels exploded and at least two dozen of the little monsters were sucked into the merciless vacuum. As the emergency force fields engaged and sound bubbled back into the world the other terrified nymphs ran yelping back to their roaring parents, who smashed them against the walls or flung them across the room in their desperation to find cover.

-

Suddenly everything was as Adam had planned it. There was Samus crouching behind a wrecked diagnostics console ahead of him on the right flank. And there were the Space Pirates cowering in front of him. In perfect synchronicity Samus began to move and Adam began poring fire on where the Pirates where hiding, holding them down. Samus destroyed the nearest hostile with a missile and laid down cover as Adam switched to the right flank. As Samus moved forward to take the Pirate hiding in the far control bay another attempted to leap up over the railing, but Adam blasted it in the face and it slammed stone dead to the floor.

The upper deck secure, Samus leapt over the railing and Adam raced down the access ramp to join her. A Pirate attempted to flee out an exit on their left but Samus blocked its path with a missile to a hanging bulkhead. The enraged creature raised its energy scythe and charged at her, but at the last second the Lady seized its descending arm and punched her charging shot into its chest. The Space Pirate exploded like a bomb and the three surviving Pirates fled into the booby trapped corridor with the two marines in hot pursuit.

Immediately upon entering Adam noticed a slight hitch in his plan. The far door rigged with their tripwires, though drained, was not opening for the Space Pirates, and now he was facing three cornered enemies down a straight alley with no cover whatsoever. And to make matters worse the exit had just closed behind Samus. The factors raced instantly through his subconscious:

Too many to take in a gun fight, no missiles, too far to throw a grenade. Got To Run!!! Run close enough to use the grenade! He dashed down the corridor even as the Pirates turned to fire on him.

He was barely halfway there as their wrist cannons locked on to him. Not fast enough! He was going to die!

-

Something gold whizzed past him. His Lady materialized between him and the Space Pirates, shoving him behind her. The GAC bolts splattered off Samus' armor like bottle rockets skipping off pavement. Her shielding shuddered and crackled under the barrage. With every shot Adam could feel the electrostatic repulsion between her body and his weakening. It was already down to only a third of its original strength. Adam leaned out from behind her and peppered the aliens with rifle fire. 'Got to throw off their aim!' He heard the hiss of a door behind him and turned to see a fourth Space Pirate leveling its cannon at him. He grabbed his grenade and hurled it at the invader but the monster dodged back out the door and escaped the shock pulse.

Samus whirled and contorted, trying to cover Adam from two directions at once even as he shoved her back, trying to force her to be less of a target. A GAC blast penetrated Samus' shield and slammed into her left shoulder-guard in a shower of gold fragments. Another bolt glanced Adam's thigh causing him to wince and kneel from the heat. The door finally opened, the Pirates retreated through and were annihilated in the tremendous explosion. Samus slipped into the morph ball, trying to climb around him to shield him from the last remaining threat.

-

The last Pirate dodged back into the hallway. Its arm moved in a swift arc and Adam's visor distorted ominously. Something white and glowing was flying towards them: an energy grenade!

One more time he felt the world slipping into slow motion. He could see every detail of his situation: the scorch marks on the steel wall frames; the slow rotations of Samus' golden sphere as it arced along its parabolic trajectory; every flash of the energy grenade that would soon end both their lives if he did not act. For a single moment he knew exactly who he was, what he had to do. Adam lunged forward, throwing every ounce of his weight through his outstretched arms into the golden ball that contained his dearest hope in the entire universe. His momentum transferred to her; her arc changed and she dropped clear of the blast. Where once there was only death, a life was rekindled.

The energy grenade landed at Adam's feet and detonated. The impact of the explosion slammed him against the wall with enough force to smash every bone in his body and he fell broken to the floor. The amber clad warrior reappeared between him and his destroyer.

-

The Space Pirate roared in triumph and ignited its energy scythe. The beast charged down the corridor at Samus, its weapon raised! Her left arm immobilized by the damage to her shoulder, Samus raised her right in self-defense. The lethal blade slammed down, Once! Twice! Thrice! into her arm cannon, severing vital energy conduits. Before a forth blow could fall Samus swept the Pirate's feet out from under it and tackled it angrily to the floor. With the grapple beam she seized the scythe with her left hand and clamped down on it with the quadrisect muzzle of her right.

The suit's life energy was bleeding out through the wounds in the arm cannon. '_Eight seconds to total system failure. Seven_…' The two struggled for the energy scythe, Samus slowly forcing it towards the beast's vulnerable midsection. '_Six… Five…'_ The Pirate kicked and thrashed horribly, its mandibles gnashing just inches away from her visor as it tried to gnaw her face. '_Four… Three… Two_…'(CRACK!) The bio-metallic bones in the Pirate's forearm snapped and its wrist went limp in her hands! Samus dashed the salient blade into the invader's chest where she knew its wicked heart beat! The beast shuddered, then relaxed into the cold grip of death.

'_One_…' The suit collapsed into its wearer's body and the beautiful huntress sprang off her enemy's corpse.

-

"ADAM!!!" Her natural human voice rasped from years of disuse and crackled with emotion as she spotted her unlooked-for savior—there was no trace of gold on her body to translate her preferred tongue.

"My Lady." Adam gasped, "So you do have, some remnant of humanity after all."

"Yes." she choked, "I remember everything: our language, the colony, my parents, even the day it all ended."

Her eyes filled with tears as she caressed his broken body. The lights in Adam's suit were urgently flashing red. He did not have long left.

"Adam, please listen to me, help is coming; you can pull through this!" She pleaded.

He laughed weakly, "After all these years you finally speak to me just to tell me a lie? No. You were right, My Lady: all things must come to an end. I am at peace now. I'm ready."

"Adam? Please!"

"Just promise me one thing, Lady: You will never forget… that we are your people too."

"No. Never Again."

Adam smiled, his glistening eyes drifted closed and the lights on his armor went black.

-

For what seemed to her like hours Samus sat cradling the body of her fallen hero. In truth it took only 15 seconds for her years of training with the GFMC and the Chozo to force her thoughts to her own survival. Oxygen was severely depleted. In this sparse atmosphere even she could not last for long. She got up to ponder the two casualties lying before her. The two bodies were still intact, perhaps containing enough energy for a flash reset?

She placed her hands on the remains and focused her thoughts, summoning the living armor hiding as energy among her body's high frequency quantum resonances. The elemental creature sharing space within her stirred. Its predatory hunger reignited and it leapt forth to re-clothe her gentle spirit in vengeful blood thirst, encasing her body in the light of primordial fire. Vital essence, like mists of purple light, streamed from the two bodies into her hands. The armor stabilized around her as it drew life sustaining energy from the two casualties of war: one an enemy the other a friend. Its damaged pieces became healed in flashes of golden energy. As the two bodies evaporated into dust she felt sensation heighten and emotion deaden, but even the power of the suit could not erase the impact of these events on her psyche.

The suit purred back to life and began to list off the status of systems: "_Flash reset successful. Varia suit online. Shields fully restored. Equipment malfunctions detected. Beginning diagnostics: Grapple beam malfunction. Grapple shot malfunction. Shrink ball malfunction. Boost ball malfunction. Morph ball bomb malfunction. Missile capacity: zero. All other combat, visor, and movement systems operational._——_New energy signature detected in Main Cargo Hold. Chozo security forces identification beacon detected_."

This last bit of information perked up her ears. Chozo? Here? No, surely such a thing was impossible. Unless…

-

The security code was archaic: nearly three millennia old, from the days when these wastes still marked the edges of Chozo territory. Was it possible that this humble mining craft had stumbled upon some long forgotten Chozo weapon? Was this the cause of all their misfortune?

Samus stepped back into the bridge but a cursory scan revealed the futility of changing course now. The helm was unresponsive. Data exchange with the engines was being suppressed from a junction in the cargo bay. She knew what she had to do.

-

'Adam. Grandfather.' she silently prayed, 'You are my guardians; my reservoirs of strength when I gaze into the void of despair. When I was alone and helpless, fit only as prey for the wolves of the galaxy, you took me in and nourished me with your love and compassion. When I felt frail you taught me the strength of stoicism and self-reliance. When I was lost in the darkness of nihilism you filled my heart with the light of responsibility and purpose.

'In return I have dishonored you both by my self-centered actions these past four years. I allowed my pain and my fear of loss to hold me back from the mighty design that you instilled in my being. I repaid your compassion with cold indifference. I rebelled against your lessons when I needed them most. I disowned my heritage and refused to take up the momentous role you had prepared for me. But today I promise you: I will fail you no more. I accept who I am and submit to the purpose the universe has in store for me.

'Therefore I plead to you, Adam, Grandfather—you cherished spirits who give life to my weapons and clarity to my spirit. You sacrificed your lives to give me the power to prevail over my enemies. Now I require your courage again to atone for a mistake of both our peoples. I beg of you, please lend me your strength once more.'

-

Rallied by her meditation, the suit's strength waxed like the light of a rising star and her confidence was rekindled as she retraced her steps to the heart of the ship.

-

Silence reigned as she revisited the familiar landmarks of her final voyage with Adam. His final words echoed in her brain. Until at last she reached the threshold of the cargo bay. Through the door she could hear the shrieking of the parasites as they squabbled for food and space in the vast hall.

Without hesitation she blasted the door and raced across catwalk to the banshee cry of her ravenous foes. The silvery demons raced up the wall to attack her but she paid them no heed. As she reached the jagged edge where Wrenchman's grenade had severed the walkway she leapt out into the void. The explosion of the grenade had torn through the wall, exposing the ship's massive fuel lines, and as she fell she charged a shot and launched it into the exposed fuel array.

-

The fuel gel ignited with a bang, sending an enormous jet of fire into the cargo bay! Parasites screamed as the flames melted their carapaces and feasted on their organic innards. Carbonaceous deposits in the mineral ore caught fire, transforming the entire cargo bay into a blinding inferno. In seconds the last of the parasite screams died away under the roar of the conflagration. Then just as quickly the ship sealed the fuel lines and fire began to smother for lack of oxygen. Protected by the shielding of her Varia suit, Samus walked calmly out of the dying inferno. The parasites were destroyed, but what of the Chozo?

For a moment all was silent. Then at the far end of the cargo hold something stirred amongst the rubble. Like some strange sleeping animal a great mass of debris rose up from the deck on rumbling, shifting legs of loose rock, from its center echoing a strange, forlorn cry. For a moment the apparition reeled as though disoriented by its surroundings, then its gaze fixed on the shining warrior. As the unnatural beast rumbled towards Samus the ghostly green beam of her scan visor swept over it, probing and searching its many facets. The beast stopped short! The clouds of charred ore swarming over the central mass parted, revealing a ghostly green face with a long piercing beak and searching, glowing green eyes. The apparition called out to her uncertainly, questioning and challenging.

With clarion voice she answered it, her words like the chanting of song birds, the cooing of doves and the crying of eagles, soothing and consoling.

The familiar ghost sighed mournfully and vanished into the ether. The animated pile of broken ore tumbled lifelessly to the ground, peering out from the masses: the stern faces of a Chozo war totem.

-

"Rest dear friend." The Hatchling whispered, "Sleep until the dying of all the worlds when all the life of this universe is spent. Sleep and do not be afraid, for your Masters have found Peace."

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A single tear trickled from her silent blue eyes.

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The End

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Author's Notes:

You thought it was really over for a moment didn't you! But it's not!

Next: Dénouement

In which we learn the aftermath of the events on the Astra Maru XIII and Samus begins a new life as a bounty hunter.

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Unfortunately the dénouement is still on its first draft and needs another month or so of polishing before it's ready to publish. Plus I'm adding a legal disclaimer (since I'm not Nintendo and don't own Metroid) and an acknowledgments section so I can properly thank all of you who have influenced this project. So I expect to have this completed around August 2009, but until then I'd like to think I have left it on a nice conclusion.

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Finally:

Quick question to any potential reviewers: Did Samus's "prayer" help explain her weird behavior in the previous chapters? Would you have been able to intuit her motivations without it? I fear I tend to rely too heavily on my readers' intuition to replace exposition, which if true might be catastrophic for my next project. Thanks and hope to hear from some of you soon.


	4. Denoument: Fate Lofts Her Blade

Author's note:

Almost a year on from when I filed away this project (thinking I had gotten all I could from the experience and had left the story on a fine end-note) I am surprised and touched by how long your attention and enthusiasm for this story outlived my own. Since that last submission, my muse has been fixated on my original sci-fi trilogy and I've learned how much more exhausting real literature can be to write. On top of that, the pace of everything else in life has picked up. I've been doing some original research in maths and sciences that my profs are leaning on me to get published. Add to that wanting to write a small travel memoir for my family, job and graduate school hunting, and the usual distractions of TV, books, videogames, internet, and university academics, and I highly doubt I will be able to give this story a proper rewrite for many years to come. Odd how even the most productive years of ones life are never productive enough...

Still, this story needs a proper conclusion immediately. It looks like Metroid: Other M is going to completely overturn everything we thought we knew about Samus Aran and crush my carefully thought out non-canon. One of you asked how much this story is based on researched consensus; the answer is little to none. This is Samus purely as I want her to be: a heroine I can admire unconditionally, grounded in my cultural inheritance and my beliefs about what constitutes an honorable and dignified way of life. This imperfect and incomplete conclusion, dug up from the archives of my laptop, may not be all that I wanted to post. But it gives the closure this story requires.

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Dénouement: Fate Lofts Her Blade

Four months later:

Samus relaxed in her power armor on a grassy knoll. The trees and grasses of this planet were a deep purple color, dotted with fragrant red and green flowers. Her suit was fortified with exotic crystalline minerals and decorated with other evidence of her long tenure here. In the far distance sounds of gunfire echoed. Her helmet was gone and she was chatting with a strange, blue scaled, ferret like creature that was basking in her energetic radiance. For a woman who spent so much time alone she had a strange affinity for small animals. She had taken to reciting her biography to them, sometimes in English and sometimes in Chozo. It helped her make sense of the sorrows that continued to afflict her, while growing her confidence in her newly accepted dual identity. For the time being she had given up grief, choosing instead to celebrate the lives and honor of her departed friends. She had just finished the story of her last mission for the GFMC and the blue ferret stretched lazily, sensing the conclusion of the tale.

"And so that's how I found my true voice." she smiled. "It was a heavy price to pay but I think this is what Adam would have wanted."

The creature glanced up at her with the wide eyed patience of an animal that comprehends only that a performance is meant for his benefit.

"OK," she laughed, "I guess that still doesn't explain why I'm here. After I deactivated the totem I turned the ship around and full throttled back to Federation space. The back up shuttle met me halfway and I transferred over so they could take me back to Command. Back at the base, the higher ups saw fit to debrief me for nine hours straight, actually 'grilled' me is probably a better expression. Then they told me everything I had seen was classified, handed me an honorable discharge and immediately enlisted me in the new Hunters Initiative. I guess I can't really complain. Bounty hunters' pay is ten times better even than black ops', and they let me use my… unique skills. I'm here on a tip from an old GFMC contact that they might have some jobs for me on this planet."

A shadow passed over her lovely face. Actually the whole affair of her dismissal stank of intrigue and politics. It seemed like they didn't want a new GFMC hero rising from the destruction of the old, but it was more than that. In the space of a few hours after his death, Adam's illustrious Special Recon had been gutted and swept clean. Many of the veterans were discharged and command of the remnants was divided between three navy admirals. The brass had made sure Samus understood that. Someone very high up didn't want her taking up his mantle. Adam had known something deep.

But it didn't matter, she felt just as confident in her ability to safeguard the Federation from outside the fold as from within it. She had felt ready to put the incident to rest, but there was one more surprise in store for her.

Several weeks later she had learned that, upon reaching port, a repair crew had discovered Frost crammed into a crawl space not far from the port escape pod bay. He was dehydrated and delirious, but alive. He had managed to escape the parasites and had been hiding in that hole ever since. Samus had thought to visit him, but sadly, despite the deactivation of the war totem, his mind had continued to torment him through all that time with invented terrors, leaving him a shadow of his former self. He had been taken to a veteran's mental institution for treatment and was not accepting visitors. So Samus surrendered the incident to the past and immersed herself in her new profession.

It was a good time to be a bounty hunter, Samus thought to herself. For centuries the Hunters' Guilds had played a vital role within the Federation: replacing the impossible labyrinth of formalized extradition between the Federation's thousands of client spheres—it was a difficult, generally disreputable profession and rarely profitable for newcomers. But now, out of desperation at the stagnating war effort, the Senate had passed the Hunters Initiative authorizing the military to employ this shady element as a stop gap mercenary force.

The war with the Space Pirates was heating up. The Bugs were making new pushes in the sector of her old home on Zebes; not just raiding planets but taking them in a coordinated campaign of terror. It was as though some mysterious strategic mastermind was now directing them. For hunters willing to hazard them there was suddenly no shortage of profitable jobs.

More sounds of gunfire thundered in the distance. A panicked voice crackled over the airwaves, "Hunter Aran? Samus Aran? This is Colonel Amerding, do you read me? Over!"

"I hear you Colonel."

"Mam! We can't break through their defenses! We need your help! Can you help us break through their lines?"

"Maybe, I'm sitting not 500 meters from their fire control base. I can probably destroy it and rendezvous with your front line in five minutes, but I'll need official approval. You know I'm always happy to help out my marines, but I can't do this one for free: I've got a business reputation to uphold. What does Command say?"

"They just authorized use of Hunters. Bounty is set at 12,000 credits."

A mere pittance! Outer Command always had placed more value on its coffers than on the lives of its soldiers. How lucky for them that Samus Aran played this game for more than just the money! Besides she had been dying for a chance to exercise her arm cannon all day—a chance to see what these new upgrades could do.

"Well then you just sit tight Colonel Amerding. Keep your head down and I'll do the rest!"

"Thank You! Miss… Hunter Samus!... Sir! Over and out!" The line clicked shut.

The blue ferret looked inquisitively at her.

"I'm sorry," Samus chuckled, "I'll have to tell you about the battle of Tythus VII some other time."

She stood up. The fearsome helmet of the hunter rematerialized over her head in a flash of light. Below her, on the other edge of a fortified ravine the Pirate base squatted like some sort of malignant tumor on the landscape.

Her ancient hatred for the race that had taken so much from her burned bright within her. "I think your vice has tainted this world long enough!" she hissed.

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'Who am I to wreak such terrible judgment upon so many worlds?' she ponders as she alights upon the edge of the foreboding chasm.

'I am one being of two cultures: both Human and Chozo, yet indivisible and whole. I am the child of Virginia and Rodney Aran who were so senselessly murdered in the unbridled pursuit of power. And I am the daughter of Old Bird who taught me wisdom and courage and I called Grandfather.'

She drops into the chasm where her foes await her.

'I am a selfless warrior trained by both Chozo and Human. I am the anointed prodigy of Adam Malkovich who gave his life so that I might live to make the most of mine.'

Unleashing crystal blue fire that gnaws through Pirate flesh and armor.

'I am the Hatchling of the Chozo, destined to bring justice to the galaxy in the years of their twilight. I am Adam's Lady in amber clad, promised to protect his Federation even from its own corruption.'

Launching super missiles that shatter adamantine armor and power bombs that drag all evil into the crushing singularity.

'I am your own bastard offspring: Justice incarnate for every innocent you killed. For it was you who created me when you cut down my family on K-2L and laid low my gentle Chozo brothers.'

Streaming torrents of ice that freeze the atmosphere itself.

'One day I am but a common soldier, the next I am Athena, patroness of war; Diana, lady of the hunt; Kalika, goddess of death, our anger inexorable and raw.'

Grappling from magnetic armor to land upon the back of an enemy war beast.

'I am proof that nature itself abhors you, and brandishes its elements to take recompense for your crimes.'

Wheeling the satanic beast against the bastion of the Pirate fortress and stabbing her fiery arm into its exposed brain!

'For I am Fire! I am Air! I am Ice! I am Water! I am Earth! I am Light! I am Shadow! I am Fear! I am Hope! I am Strength! I am Death! I am Vengeance!'

Leaping high into the air and Shinesparking through the bastions of the Pirate stronghold, she locks her sights on the cowering Space Pirates!

"I am Samus Aran, space vermin!" she yells, "Welcome to Hell!"

* * *

Samus Aran: A Million Heroes with a Single Face

Personally, I am a believer in the principal of fair use that an unauthorized derivative work must expand upon its source in the larger sociocultural context: offering critique, criticism, or unique interpretation. Here is my critique.

In the video games, Samus Aran is developed as _tabula rosa_, without any personality cues. Therefore, the player must read personality into the avatar from the surrounding environments and the few lines of back story provided. We believe she must be stoic and detached because she travels to alien worlds and endures terrible trials without any human companionship or communications. We believe she must be wise and virtuous because she seeks out the remnants of ancient Edens and fights to protect them from the corruption of evil forces. We believe she must be bad-ass because she slaughters the wicked creatures without hesitation or mercy. Reading within these broad brushstrokes, we can find any number of fulfilling characters to satisfy our need for a human connection to our avatar.

Unfortunately, this unique mode of storytelling is hard to sustain. Eventually the creators will want to share their own interpretations of the beloved character with the audience (as we are seeing now). And if those interpretations don't utterly put to shame our own conceptions of the character there will be hell to pay. The thing we all fear most is to see the character shoehorned into some stupid, stereotypical character arch. We dread the possibility of Samus as timid, hormonal, infatuated adult-adolescent with a magic suit of body armor, who doesn't want to fight but does so anyway to protect her friends. We all know that story, but it is not one that we saw in the _tabula rosa_ of yore. The best solution, I think, is to keep the character minimalist and develop emotional growth out of clever interplay of the nebulous environmental extrapolations of yesterday. The strokes are so vague there is plenty of room to read in internal conflict.

The heroism of a stoic champion is not that they endure great suffering without feeling, but that they feel great suffering and yet endure. Therefore, in this interpretation I tried to create the maximum amount of internal conflict, hidden until the climax of course for shock value, into the most minimal character possible. Here Samus's self-conflict comes not from distaste for violence, but horror at her own stunted development as a human being and intimidation by the tremendous expectations hoisted upon her. Her transformations into the god-like killing machine requires her to suppress her humanity and leaves her emotionally isolated. Every familial connection she has ever had has been severed in the fires of war, and she fears that her alter-ego is somehow to blame. But warfare is the only life she has ever known, and so she must endure and reluctantly walk the destiny set in place for her. Her character resolution comes from the realization that her role as guardian creates new connections to the people she protects, albeit from afar.

Good storytelling is important to video games. The medium allows new ways of expressing story, such as reading complex personality into a character from their environments. But this is not an excuse to botch traditional literary techniques. Future story driven Metroid games may be phenomenal expositions of storytelling craft, or they may not. Either way I urge you to vote with your $$$ and hold the creators to the standards of story creativity we expect.

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**Legal Declaration and Acknowledgments:**

**The Metroid and Metroid Prime franchises, Samus Aran, Adam Malkovich, and all other characters, concepts, and creatures contained therein are the Intellectual Property of Nintendo** (and/or **Retro Studios** as the case may be). I use them for the purpose of providing creative commentary and promoting discussion of the artistic merits and weaknesses of the source material. My use of these properties is justified as fair use for critical commentary, protected in US copyright law. This **Fan Art** was created for the sole purpose of praising and critiquing the genius of the original creators and current property holders, and does not benefit me monetarily in any way, shape, or form.

In accordance with the Terms of Service **it is illegal to copy, in whole or in part, any content of this submission** for display in any other public context without my express permission; and I hereby categorically deny all such requests (in so far as it is within my rights to do so) with the following exception:  
It is my wish that other artists exercise free license with the original concepts, plot and character development, and and all other innovations in this work, with or without attribution, so long as the written words themselves are not plagiarized.

This work is to be distributed free of charge on . If you paid/are paying for license to read this work

(1) You were/are being ripped off

(2) Who ever is ripping you off must be lazy to not remove this warning

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**In addition to Nintendo and Retro Studios I would like to explicitly acknowledge other parties, artists, and works that have influenced this composition.** But since I am out of time there is one who I feel obligated to acknowledge:

**Jennifer Wand's **_**Aftermath**_, as probably the finest exploration of Samus's psyche, her complex cultural affinities, and her mentor-father relationship with Adam, was a formative influence on this work. I am not embarrassed to admit that after reading your work I had to completely rewrite Part 3 of this story to accommodate the wealth of inspiration I derived from _Aftermath_. From Chozo extemporality to the Old Bird's self-sacrificial blood offering, this work now contains so many homage's and subconscious appropriations of your brilliance I hope you will forgive me for not attempting to enumerate them all. I acknowledge that _Aftermath_ is at its best in the flashbacks and you may feel the story has reached a dead end, but I hope you will find a way to finish anyway. Meanwhile I think the highest tribute I can pay to you is to say that I felt no need to write any descriptions of Adam teaching Samus at the academy because it would have just been _Aftermath_ but with sign language.


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